The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-05-29
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL.

It's a wellknown fact among railroad men
that on railroads running north and south the
west rail wears out the faster; that five rails will
wear out on the west side of the track while
three are doing service on the east side
DR.. Martineau, French physician, claims
that carbonate of lithia and arseniate of soda in
aerated water used to the exclusion of other
drinks Is an almost infallible cure for diabetes.
Any common writing ink can be made glossy
by adding to it a little gum arabic white
sugar. If the latter be used. care must be had
not to use too much sugar. else the mixture will
be sticky when dry, and if too much of either
gum or sugar be used the ink will become too
thick to flow well.
The leaves of climbing plant of India, gym
nema sylvestre have lately been discovered to
| possess the peculiar property of destroying the
tongues power to appreciate sweets and bitters,
causing quinine and sugar to taste like chalk
and sand. The taste of pungenr and saline sub
stances. astringents and acids, is not affected.
Tho taste of the leaves themselves is btterish,
| astringenr and slightly acid, and their effect
lasts for an our or two after they have been
cnewed. In experiments in Italy il has been
shown that various drugs affect what seems to
be different sets of taste nerves, but this plant
appears to give more remarkable results than
cocaine, morphia or other substance tried.
The American consul in Honduras, Mr.. Burch-
ard gives some particulars of the pita plant. It
grows spontaneously. and in apparently mex
haustible quantities by the margin of the rivers
and lagoons of that country at any point below
altitude of two thousand feet. The fibre is
susceptible of very large number of uses. The
people of Honduras convert ii into thread for
sewing boots and Shoes and into nets, fish lines
and cordage. The finest hammocks made
from it. Smallquantities which have been sent
to the market have been manufactured into
handkerchiefs. 1aces, ribbons, false hair and
wigs. The difficulty is to decorticate the plant
without rotting or otherwise inJuring the fibre.
In dealing with cellar in springy ground the
first thing to be done to make 1t dry, says the
Sanitary Engineer, is to provide some chance for
the water to run away before getting into the
cellar This may be done by laying two-inch
Ia n n q II a
foundation outside of the walls. and from one
foot to two feet below the cellar floor. Put this
pipe together without mortar and cover 1t with
cobblestones to keep out the dirt and sand. It
it be not practicable to lay the drain outside 1t
may be laid inside of the cellar walls, directly in
the cellar floor: but the operation of such drain
is less efficient. The back filling of the cellar
walls should be porous enough to allow the water
to go directly into the drain.
The Builder: To build chimney that will
draw forever and not fill up with SCOT, you must
build it large enough, sixteen inches square; use
good brick. and clay instead of lime to the
comb; plaster it inside with clay mixed with
salt: for chimneytors use the very best of brick.
wet them and lay them In cement mortar. The
chimney should not be built tight to beams or
rafters, most chimneys settle little, and if
too tight between the beams and ratters, there
is where the cracks in your chimneys come and
where the most of the fires originate, as the
chimney sometimes gets red-hot. A chimney
built from cellar up is better and less dangerous
than hung on the wall Dort get your
stovepipe hole close to the ceiling, eighteen
inches from it.
With regard to the yellow color of the canary
bird and its testimony to Mr. Darwin's theory,
it is said that. after domestication in Belgium,
Germany and England Ia point with which tenn
perature climate may have something to do,
the birds threw mp on the feathers small patches
of yellow lighter color, and by carefully
matching those birds that had the largest num-
Der of these patches the breeders at length, and
after considerable period, succeeded in OBJ
tanning bright and uniform yellow color.
more closely resembling what are called the
''clear" birds of to-day. But the application of
the phrase, canary color" to indicate special :
shade of yellow though general is not justified
by the facts. Canaries of pure breed to be
found of many eolors. Whole breeds green;
and, by feeding pepper and other seeds.
canaries have been produced of cinnamon and
coffee color, and of red: and in the lizard
variety, the bird. though yellow in the crown,
is elsewhere shaded and spangled in the most
na